Once Upon a University Campus

When it rains, it pours

After a long dry spell, sky had finally turned dark grey, with a promise of soaking the parched earth till the annoying dust stood reduced to dirty brown puddles. Early that morning, next to her in the bed, Saahil had curled himself under a white sheet, his lean frame could have been mistaken for a crumbled pile of a heavy quit. Annika pulled the edge of the sheet ever so slightly to reveal his face. The spikes of his new hair cut had collapsed into bangs. Annika gently brushed his bangs into a sideward crop, something he would not let her do when he is awake. His buck teeth left his mouth agape as he slept, but his cheeks were fuller. "Must have been all the ghee" Annika chuckled to herself. Indeed he had grown taller over the vacation, though his still lean frame made him look small. She silently studied his face for something more but disappointingly there was nothing a teenage boy could express in his sleep. Annika gently slipped out of the bed, closing the door behind her softly.

She stepped carefully avoiding shopping bags, their luggage,most of it under different stages of packing strewn in the hallway and the living room. As the school reopening approached Annika had been clingy and accompanied Saahil every minute of his day. She had ended up tagging along Rudy and Saahil to movies she did not watch, went bowling, though she could not hold the ball properly, hovered around pool tables, all the time happy to see her baby grow wings, shedding his downy feathers. She had danced out of joy when he had landed a strike. She had gotten him extra buttered popcorn at the movies and had watched him munch it gleefully instead of watching the movie. She had meant to make the most of their time together, but then she had so much to look forward to. Just this year and he would be with her. The scattered stuff around her reminded her of the tasks to be accomplished that day.

They had been gearing up for Saahil's upcoming academic year. They had picked up assorted stationery from Ber Serai, wrapped his textbooks with brown binding paper, labeled his notebooks and checked against the school supply list multiple times. Annika once again counted the number of books as she finally packed them into Saahil's backpack. Her carefully curated budget this time gave her enough room to splurge on a few more non essentials given that she did not have to spend money on renting their temporary summer accommodation. She had ended up buying an expensive backpack for Saahil. As she zipped up the backpack, a smug smile made way. She had done it. It was a small moment of satisfaction that her hard work and the unexpected munificence life had finally bestowed on her. Indeed it was mission accomplished this summer, she had managed to be a good parent.

She abandoned the remaining odds and ends scattered on the table.Saahil had wanted to pack it himself just so that he knew where to find what. Annika unbagged fresh sets of uniforms they had procured the previous evening and checked once again to ensure they were all the right size. It had been bittersweet that they had to shop at the men's section for the first time now that her baby had outgrown boy's sizes. She picked up the brand new t-shirts and plaid that was lying on the sofa and played with the tags. How did time fly? He was a baby just the other day and now he was almost as tall as herself, his feet now wider and bigger than her own. So much so that he had outgrown the new pair of expensive shoes she had got him just a few months back. The duo had decided that Annika would keep the shoe for herself now that Saahil had outgrown, for it was too expensive to be given away. She fondly reminiscenced their time together this summer, her ghee laden halwas and dalias, the repetitive meals of dal-rice and kitchdi, something Saahil had eaten with the same gusto. She thought of their shopping trips over the previous week, of the day when Saahil easily beat her hands down in a golgappa eating competition. She smiled thinking of the day when they both had gotten drenched in a thunderstorm and she had vigorously towel dried his hair till he started complaining about turning bald. Then there were the mornings they lazily spent drinking chai and playing ludo.